That Voodoo that you do
by John Curnow, Editor, Sail-World AUS 20 May 2018 23:00 BST
Limit and Loki pass the Organ Pipes in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race © Daniel Forster / Rolex
Back in Perks of the Job a few weeks ago, we made mention of a returning vessel. The commentary went like this. Finally then, and before we close up, it looks like a mini-maxi Reichel/Pugh is en route to Sydney from San Diego, via Tahiti. We have not had a vessel like this on these shores since Loki. No ancient Gods or black magic involved with this one. It is just that I noted it is on its way here to be prepped up in time for Hobart, and this marks the first time I have mentioned the great race, since the last one finished four months ago.
Well that was all code for the fact that, Limit, was on her way back to Oz. Voodoo (as she will be known) has crossed the equator and is almost at Tahiti. Now delivering a racing boat and comfort are not really bedfellows. All those hard edges, a hull form that is more interested in getting up and boogying, not grading the ocean, and a galley that makes camping look, well, like glamping actually. And they usually are about as wet as camping under old canvas, too. Did someone say, fun?
Invariably it is the camaraderie amongst the crew, the amazing sunrises and sunsets, time to ponder, and cocktail hour aboard if it is a wet ship, that gets you through. Of course, you also tell yourself that the additional pace, especially in the light, makes up for the lack of anything remotely akin to R&R. When you're lying on the first massage table you find after you get off, you immediately start saying it wasn't soooooooooooooooooo bad... Ah the wonders of the mind.
It is also the place where tales get invented, or made even larger, and this has been the case since man first took on his oldest challenge. So in the spirit (pun fully intended) of the old line, there's no such thing as bad PR, only no PR, I just had to share the following item from on board Voodoo about one Andrew Coutts. He's about as famous as the other sailor with that Surname, but not related.
The crew profile of day (from about a week ago) read, "Andrew 'meat hanger' Coutts, Coutta, the man, the myth, the bullshitter. You can usually find Coutta standing tall and proud at the wheel in nothing but an old grey pair of Bonds, looking into the distance, pondering life, and deciding on the next career to add to his ever growing list of 376 jobs."
"What he lacks in clothing, he makes up for in stories, and those who know Coutta, know what I'm talking about. Even after a stern word from our sailing master D.A before departing San Diego, warning him of a possible mutiny if he didn't tone down his overly inflated story telling, Coutta's dribble has been constant."
"In all honestly though, there's only so many books you can read whilst at sea, so Coutta's story time hasn't always fallen on deaf ears."
In the last little while more came in - "Day 16 or 17, we aren't even sure anymore. We have suffered some major blows overnight resulting in multiple delamination areas, and now a hole the size of a mattress in our mainsail. All safe and still moving forward to some ice cold beers in Tahiti." Good to know that all are OK team, and hope you can make speedy repairs as required.
Tacking. So if it is all about the tales, and we have just had the voodoo, then we have to look at the Hoodoo that you do, too. Of course, this means Rhode Island, where Navigator extraordinaire, our ex-pat Capey, was involved in a fracas at a bar called the Clarke Cooke House. Now despite seven being arrested for a range of offences, the sum total of it all were a gaggle of donations to charities. The news piece from the event sounds more like an extract of a scene in Tortuga from Disney's next instalment of the stalled Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.
Right oh - here today there are some gems for you to review. We have information about plastics in the ocean, Ken Read takes the IC37 for a blast, 52 Super Series, World Match Racing Tour, the Clipper RTW race, GC32s, Extreme Sailing Series, Jeanneau Sun Fast 3600 – the shorthanded gem, Five Ohs, The Volvo, Youth Sailing at the Christian Youth Club of Australia, gear from Musto, RC44, the Mirabuad for 2018 (so clean the lens and shoot away), Windsurfers and Kites, crewing with help from the MySail Team, and certainly there is much, much more.
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John Curnow, Editor, Sail-World AUS